Why Do People Tweet Anyway?

Fri, April 24, 2009

Tags: Twitter, Usage Behavior

Here’s an interesting article that dives into a variety of topics of how and why people use Twitter. I can say that from our internal agency survey to over 1,500 theatergoers last quarter, usage of Twitter has seen a 100% increase from Q4 2008 to Q1 2009 with 11% of respondents saying they are now using Twitter which falls in-line with reports I’ve seen as the national average of the general public. So, yes, there’s a lot of hype around Twitter but I’m beginning to come around to the basic fact that a lot of it is well founded. Before I go further with this story, I know that despite its popularity there are many marketers that still don’t really understand Twitter – so, I would encourage you to visit here for a good primer on how it’s used. I would also encourage you to connect with us at @situationonbway – it’ll give you real-time information about Broadway while allowing you to get comfortable using Twitter.

The following research report dives into Twitter use by looking at 425 active users and one of the key issues it aimed to tackle was the “why tweet?” question. According to the study from Pew Internet and American Life Project…

“Interestingly, there is does not appear to be one standout reason why people use Twitter, the research found. Rather, there are a variety of economic, learning and social motivations.

When tweeters were asked to rate the reasons why they participate, on a scale from 1 to 5 (with 1=strongly disagree and 5=strongly agree), MarketingProfs calculated the following averages for each of the responses:

- “I find it exciting to learn new things from people”: Average score 4.65
- “I value getting information in a timely manner”: Average score 4.58
- “I like to be connected to lots of people”: Average score 3.91
- “I want to generate new business”: Average score 3.70
- “I find it gratifying to have people follow me”: Average score 3.64

The findings show that the highest number of respondents are motivated by learning new things and getting information in a timely manner.”

Not really surprising to me but it reinforces the importance of the timeliness of publishing content.

Another interesting point discussed on usage relates to Twitter etiquette – are egos bruised if Tweets go unanswered? Here was the response from the study…

“Tweeters do not necessarily feel badly when nobody answers their tweets, the study found. When asked how strongly they agree with the statement “I feel bad when I tweet something and nobody responds,” the average response among Twitter users (2.41) implies people aren’t too troubled by a lack of response. Moreover, less than 2% say they strongly agree with the statement, and nearly 32% disagree. The remaining two-thirds are roughly equally divided among “mildly disagree,” “neither agree nor disagree,” and “mildly agree:”

For what it’s worth, I posted the following tweet to my 64 followers a few weeks ago – “Do any of my 64 followers actually use Twitter regularly? Hit me with a reply ASAP?” To date, I’ve received 11 responses. Maybe I’m boring… or maybe they’re not really using it... or, maybe that’s how many will actually see my posts daily with the hundreds of other tweets they are getting. Not sure – but it helped put some of it in context for me.

There are a few more important points in the study that talk about tweeting etiquette, egos and more at the link below. Enjoy.

Read on.